I took this pic of a Banded Centipede yesterday at Stockgrove Country Park.

Firstly, if this is not L. variagatus please let me know (I know you would anyway).

From a dorsal view of the same centipede (not uploaded) I notice that it appears to be short a leg and I wondered if it would grow back?

The posted image shows 2 yellow lumps above the third and fifth leg (counting from the front). Anyone know what they are and how many there are altogether?

How are centipede segments named/numbered - anyone know a good website or book on anatomy/biology and identification?

Finally, I'd like to take some close-up ventral shots without killing the subject. I was thinking about capturing one and popping it in the freezer for an hour or so. Will this work or will it kill the subject? Any other ideas how I might go about getting my shots?

Hi Bruce
I understand that centipedes as they grow go through several moults and that this provides an opportunity to replace any lost legs - although the regenerated leg may not always be as large as the original would have been.

I have also read that some species of centipede will intentionally drop one or more of their legs when under threat by a predator. The dropped legs carry on moving distracting the attacker, and allowing the centipede to make its escape!

I have no idea whether this particular species adopts these tactics.

I also wondered if those yellow "lumps" above the leg might be something to do with the centipede's respiratory system (spiracles)? I must stress that I am out of my depth with this one, but would love to know the answer.

Trouble is now I'll be on the lookout for centipedes with the odd small leg - it would certainly make an interesting photo .

I think you are almost certainly right about the yellow bumps being breathing holes (spiracles). With the help of your suggestion I've done a fair bit of Googling and spiracles seem to fit the bill in terms of size, location and colour. I've even found a close-up pic of a centipede spiracle (different species unfortunately).

I found a big centipede in my house. Picked it up with soft tissue paper and placed it outside in the garden. The paper had 4 or 5 wiggling legs stuck to it but the centipede ran off like it didn't miss the legs. Very creepy, but it led me to believe that they must drop them when they are afraid as mentioned above and my gut instinct is that they grow new legs after losing them. I was so curious of the truth about this I decided to write on this forum. To tell you the truth I have never seen a house centipede nor heard of one although I found this centipedes photo on the internet as a house centipede. One unusual insect that I have seen in action, not at home.... is a tarantula hawk. This is one creepy insect and could be used as an idea for a horror movie like Alien. These scary looking tarantula hawks have an appearance like a prehistoric, large wasp, of course with wings. they find a tarantula and sting the torso of the spider and stick their sharp rear end into the spiders torso and lay eggs in them. The eggs grow within the tarantula and slowly kill the poor thing. We have them in the mountains of Malibu, California. I've seen this horrible process twice and find it disgusting. Thank god they are not living in my house......

Yes nature is fascinatingly diverse and often beats science fiction/fantasy in it's strangeness. I think horror film makers lend heavily from the natural world as there are many species of insect that possess (relatively speaking) super strength and others that use living hosts to feed their developing young.

Tigerfly, I think you're right about your centipedes "throwing" a few legs in the hope that it would escape from your tissue paper .